In 1994, Peter Senge’s book, The Fifth Discipline, popularized the idea of the Ladder of Inference. Years ago in our work at Soderquist Leadership, I claimed that pound-for-pound this was the most relevant, applicable, and transformative model in out toolkit. Since, a couple of other contenders have emerged but I’m pretty sure, this claim is still true. The model goes something like this…

The reality is that we as leaders are constantly dropping reasons to believe… The question is really about how intentional and aware we are of the reasons we’re giving our people to believe.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “there’s no such thing as a stupid question” and most of us would sign up for that. Yet still most of us hesitate, if not pass altogether, to ask questions if we think there’s a slightest chance that asking a question could make us look… well, stupid.

2024 will no doubt bring some hard and discomfort our way. As leaders, we would do well to check our familiarity index - ours, our team’s, our organization’s - and be ready to lean into that familiar space that can get us through and on to the next level.

Even in an AI world, I’d argue that PEOPLE are the third leg of an organization’s proverbial stool. It’s people that we still count on to execute our plans, spend against a budget, and generate revenue as the lifeblood of our enterprise. The question then is whether we’ve invested as much energy thinking about our people as we have our budgets and plans.

I spend a lot of my professional time in the organizational and talent development space and it’s here where I think this idea of “style” starts to matter - fast!

One of my favorite models around Internal Disruption is the sigmoid curve. A sigmoid curve is simply a mathematical function that takes the shape of an S. Organizational psychologist Charles Handy is credited with transferring this mathematical function to change theory. In short, if a company’s growth is headed up and to the right as we would hope over time, the trick is knowing when to jump to a new curve before the current one hits maturity, levels off, and ultimately goes into decline.

If seasons are characterized by change, and if leaders are to meet these changes most effectively, it follows that there are specific factors that deserve, even demand, attention.

The skeptic would look at a coach writing a blog about why someone should hire a coach as a very self-serving effort.  Let’s be clear.  Whenever I walk someone through this list and if at least one of them is not true, then my advice is “then don’t hire a coach!” There are plenty of things that can and should be done yourself, or at least within your organization.  Still, I think it’s prudent to recognize when any one or more are true, and you need to go get the outside help you need.

When do we allow adversity so that our people can experience it and capture that growth that comes - and when do we “turf the field” so that our people can get past the unnecessary distractions and we can get on with next level work?

I was in a life/career conversation recently - with a couple of other seasoned leaders - and one shared an observation that their are three big seasons or phases of life - where we LEARN, EARN, and RETURN.

…as with any good rule, there are some exceptions and I’d offer two to this one.

I’ve now been in consulting for 18 years and one of the more bewildering things I come across is the person or the company that is too smart for its own good.

I was driving the other day and came to a stop when I noticed the car in front of me had a license plate with an image Dr. Martin Luther King. I thought that was pretty cool. Sitting at the stop, I then realized they also had a bumper sticker with a skeleton fist, flipping me the bird. I wasn’t offended so much as thinking, “I’m not sure Dr. King would have that on his car.”

“If you find yourself surrounded by people that say ‘amen’ to everything you say, find yourself some new people.”

In our family, one of the things that got introduced during COVID was a family Spotify account. My teenage sons thought that it was a great idea, and I have to admit, it’s unquestionably my #1 app. I listen to music throughout the day while I work and it is my podcast feed. I do have one complaint about it though…

So here’s that point…. in nearly 20 years of studying company culture and exposure to hundreds, if not thousands, of companies, the vibe or smell of the company exists. And it’s what it is because of your intent and commitment to it - or it is what it is because you’ve abdicated that responsibility and it is a product of whoever is passing through

Perhaps there’s a title or two you haven’t looked at yet or would find intriguing. Perhaps something about sharing this list contributes to your own development. For me, it’s forward to 2023 and all of the titles in the queue.

A few years ago, I attended a hiring workshop entitled, “You’re not the person I hired.” Hiring and selection is a topic for which I have great passion and energy. There are two reasons for that: The painful mistakes I’ve made as a hiring executive in my past and the same painful mistakes I see hiring executives making today!

…for the purpose of debate, I’ll take exception to the charge of “Never settle for good enough” as it relates to other aspects of life and leadership. Keep in mind, I am someone who believes Collins’ assertion that “good is the enemy of great”, I have little patience for mediocrity, and I do believe in absolutes.

A dominant paradigm that continues to emerge is the person believes they must change jobs and companies in order to acquire new experience, perhaps lead a turnaround, and build their resume. This contributes to the significant churn we see in the workplace and may not be the path that makes the most sense.